


Shades of Blue

by ShivaVixen



Series: Paladin Palette [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blue Paladin switch, Canon is just a guideline, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lance and Blaytz switch places, canon divergent after season 2, inconsistent updates, possible time travel, team fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShivaVixen/pseuds/ShivaVixen
Summary: An odd rift in space switches Lance with the original blue Paladin of 10,000 years (or decopheobes) ago.Whether this is an alternative reality or really the past is something that will have to be figured out before they can attempt to switch them back ... and there’s something in the rift that wants out.
Relationships: Alfor & Blaytz & Gyrgan & Trigel & Zarkon (Voltron), Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Team Voltron - Relationship
Series: Paladin Palette [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042746
Comments: 12
Kudos: 32





	1. Out of the Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Using Broad strokes for canon, I want to have fun with this, even though I’m going to be pretty serious about the serious stuff (war, personality changes, injuries, etc).
> 
> ... I seem to write Time Travel fics when I’m stressing over life. Go figure.

Lance woke up in a cryopod with no memory of how he got injured. Again. Hopefully, he hadn’t been out too long.

He stumbled out and into Coran’s arms.

“Thanks, Coran. How long was I in this time?”

“How do you know his name?” Someone asked.

“Why wouldn’t I know his name?” Lance blinked at the group... that wasn’t his friends.

“How do you have the Blue Lion?” Zarkon asked, Allura’s dad, King Alfor, next to him. “Where’s Blaytz?”

“... Would you accept that I’m from ten thousand years in the future, I’m one of your successors and I have no idea how I got here? We, my team and I were trying to save something...” Lance grimaced as he tried to remember what happened. All that he got was flashes of purple as he dodged incoming fire. As well as Hunk yelling. “Yellow Lion was upset about something... Hunk was warning us of it...” He couldn’t remember.

“Don’t force it. You were pretty beat up, kid.” The probably yellow paladin suggested. “I’m Grygan, the Yellow Paladin. That’s Trigel, the green paladin, Alfor is the Red Paladin, and the brick wall asking you questions when he knows how much exiting cryopods can mess your head up is Zarkon, our Black Paladin.”

“Lance, Blue Paladin. Is Blue Lion okay?” Lance straightened up- he wanted to lean on Coran for a little while longer, but if Coran wasn’t the one he knew, well, it would be rude.

(He had to stop himself from getting between Coran and the strangers in the room- Lance was the stranger.)

“All scans show no damage.” Trigel assured him. “We found you next to an odd rift. Our Blue Paladin had sent a distress signal.”

“... So we traded places?” Lance asked.

“That’s ... actually quite plausible.” Trigel realized. “Most likely the lions traded places and their pilots were injured in the process of traveling through that odd rift. We need more data, of course.” Trigel wandered off muttering to herself.

“She does that. Let’s get some food in you, you look like you need it.” Grygan ushered Lance to the kitchen. “You’re too skinny.” 

“Sounds good... I don’t suppose you have clothes in my size around? Or I can wear the armor.”

“I’m sure we’ll find something, no need for you to wear that flight suit 36/8.” Grygan assured him. “We need to patch it up, anyway, it looks like it’s taken a pounding, what have you been up to?”

“Fighting a war against an evil empire. There’s more of them than there is of us.” Lance explained flippantly, and completely missed the looks of horror on Alfor, Coran, and Zarkon’s faces as the doors closed behind him.

“How am I in a war 10,000 years in the future?”

“He can’t be much older than Allura.” Alfor looked at Zarkon. “What do you think?”

“We keep an eye on him ... but we should be cautious how much we ask about our future selves.” Zarkon said. “I ... have a bad feeling about this.”

The boy is young and separated from his team, he’s not Altean or any species they know of ... and when he panicked at realizing they weren’t his team, he tried to push Coran behind him. As Zarkon points it out to his friends, Alfor grows somber.

“Whatever else, Coran is definitely a friend to him, at least.” Alfor agreed softly, glancing at Coran.

“I’ll watch over him, then ... I’m honestly a little worried about the fact it’s not the first time he’s come out of a pod with no idea how he got in one.” Coran admitted. “That’s...”

“More than a little worrying? Agreed.” Zarkon nodded. “We’ll figure out how to deal with the rift later, for now, we’ll put up sensors and warnings about the area. And we’ll keep an eye on the boy. Honerva may have a few theories.”

“Then we’ll head to Altea, pick up a full crew instead of an emergency one, and hopefully Lance will remember how he got here by the time we get back.” Alfor stressed the young Paladin’s name.

“Don’t get attached Alfor, we’re not keeping him.” Zarkon’s words fell on deaf ears as Alfor headed for the door. 

* * *

“This must be weird for you, being in the past.” Grygan got a bowl of the food goo to start for the kid, sometimes the cryopods upset one’s stomach. They’d get him some clothes once he had eaten something.

“A little, though there’s a chance this is just an alternate reality, we’ve come across a couple of those.” Lance explained. “But I have no idea which it is.”

“Well, I recommend that we act like you’re in the past, we won’t be asking you questions about ourselves.” Zarkon said as he entered the room, making Lance jump a little. “Coran is getting you some clothes and preparing a room. I recommend you stick with at least one of us as much as possible. We’re going to Altea to pick up more experts to study the rift before we attempt getting you back to your home.”

“Understood, but I don’t want to put anyone out if they have something they need to be doing.”

“You are a Paladin of Voltron, we help our own. I promise you, we will get you home.” Zarkon assured him.

“Thank you.” Lance nodded. “What happens if you need to form Voltron?”

Zarkon looked surprised. “We are not currently facing any opponents, and have been mostly doing solo missions with the individual lions ... Though I will ask Trigel and Alfor what they think.” Zarkon studied Lance, considering. “If you are worried about your friends, Blaytz is very adaptable to new situations, they should be able to form Voltron with him.”

Lance nodded, though he was still worried.

And homesick, but that wasn’t unusual at this point. It would take a quindent to get to Altea even with the wormhole, and Lance had meant to sleep when Coran showed him to the room he was going to stay in... except it was Allura’s room, or would be in the future. 

(He kept waking up expecting her to yell at him for being in her room.)

That wasn’t counting how weird it was to be in the same place as a not-yet evil Zarkon who was at least pretending to be concerned about him.

He hoped his presence didn’t damage the timeline or something.

Hopefully, everyone else was alright back home (in the future?).

* * *

_ “Wait, you have them in the crew’s rooms? Coran! That’s no way to treat your paladins!” _

_ “Technically, we did ask for rooms close together.” _

_ “Still! You should have been aware of the option. I planned to leave a journal for my successor, I know the others had things they wanted to pass down that they left in their rooms.”  _

_ “... Maybe it’s just as well.” _

_ “What was that Shiro?” _

_ “Sorry, I’m not feeling well.” _

_ “You should go lie down, then.” _

_ “Yeah, I think I will.” _


	2. Blue streak

Shiro wondered if he was too young for a heart attack.

They’d busted a Galra mine on a dwarf planet, it was apparently rich in one of the metals that they used for construction, and they had been in the process of evacuating the handful of slaves remaining when Hunk detected seismic activity at the same time Lance, who had been scouting the ice on the far side of the dwarf planet, came under fire from Galran ships that had come to reclaim the mine. 

That’s when things got complicated, as apparently the dwarf planet’s core started to blow. Hunk had been trying to use Yellow to stall the explosion with Pidge and Green as back up while Shiro and Keith had tried to get to Lance.

Allura had signaled that the rescue had been successful and to get out of there when Hunk had yelled, warning them that the explosion was going to happen no matter what.

Lance and Blue had still been cut off when the explosion tore a rift in space. 

Lance had screamed and Blue had roared before suddenly being cut off. 

The Galra ships had fled, and Shiro and Keith had used Black and Red to get Blue to the castle and then they were escaping through the wormhole before they discovered that it wasn’t Lance and their Blue Lion they had rescued.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t come close to losing someone before, they had certainly come close to losing Lance before, but somehow losing Lance to a rift that may have sent him roughly ten thousand years into the past was somehow more stressful than fighting Zarkon.

Probably because Lance was ten thousand years in the past and not even Coran was clear on when exactly, Zarkon decided conquering the universe became an ambition.

The fact that Blaytz was cheerful about this situation was not actually helping. His reassurance that Zarkon and the others would protect Lance would have been a lot more comforting if he had just left out Zarkon’s name.

It was a little childish for Shiro to decide to run away when Blaytz said that the former Paladins had left behind stuff so their successors could see that they weren’t alone.

Shiro could barely use the black bayard without thinking of the damage Zarkon had wrought with it- he had a hard time thinking of any weapon he wanted, actually- the idea of having something else from Zarkon? Or even staying in the same room as the guy once had left Shiro feeling ill.

It didn’t help that there was a sense of wrongness where Shiro normally felt Lance and Blue Lion. 

It wasn’t the feeling of Haggar trying to mess with his head, but it was like feeling cold water when you expected warm. 

Shiro entered the Black Lion’s cockpit and slumped into the seat.

“What do I do now?”

The Black Lion didn’t react.

Which meant she thought Shiro already knew the answer and she wasn’t going to point out the obvious.

“The Zarkon of the past ... he won’t hurt Lance, right? He wasn’t always evil? He couldn’t have been, to form Voltron...” Shiro asked the Lion.

All he got was a weary sort of grief that mirrored his own uncertainty.

“Sorry.” Shiro apologized. “I’m just worried.”

And he was probably going to stay worried until they got Lance back.

Though getting back to that rift was going to take a few quintets, they still had to get the people they rescued to safety first.

* * *

Blaytz had several concerns. The ten thousand years in the future was one thing, but the fact Coran and Princess Allura were here?

That was really worrying, especially since they were all trying to hide something from him.

He probably should just go along with their deception, but Blaytz has a really bad feeling- he needs to know what’s wrong here. They were clearly fighting a war and attempting to shut him out would hinderforming Voltron.

They were going through great lengths to hide it though. It was kinda cute when Hunk the yellow Paladin tried to change topics and Coran wasn’t much better. Blaytz had to wonder if they really thought he was that easy to fool.

Or if they forgot that he helped build the castle of lions so he knows all the shortcuts.

Blaytz finds the people that the team just rescued and turns on the charm, they don’t hide anything because what they’re talking about is common knowledge.

Galra Empire under Emperor Zarkon. Blaytz feels a little sick, but reasons that it’s not unheard of for people to name themselves after heroes of legends and hopefully that’s all there is to it. 

(There are starved children here, the Paladins are just barely adults- he’s not really sure about Pidge based on her height- and Blaytz has a feeling that he knows the reason Allura was here ten thousand years in the future.)

Blaytz leaves the refugees when he sees Keith the Red Paladin approach with Shiro just behind.

He makes it to a hallway where the refugees won’t hear possible shouting.

“What were you doing?!” Keith growls and Blaytz wonders if he’s supposed to be intimidated by this.

“Getting answers. Or did you plan to spring who your opponents are on me when you had to form Voltron?” Blaytz asked. He decides to let them have one deception in the interest of keeping the peace. “Besides, it’s not unusual for people with delusions of grandeur to name themselves after Historical persons- I am a bit insulted on Zarkon’s behalf that this emperor is using his name to enslave half the universe though.”

Keith almost corrects him, but Shiro takes the compromise.

(Blaytz is not upset they just confirmed that it was Zarkon. How was he alive for 10,000 years? There’s no natural way for that to happen. And the unnatural ways aren’t good.)

Blaytz let’s them guide the way to where Coran is on the bridge looking up time travel.

“I’ve got him Number One, Number Four.” He looks a little exhausted as he waves of the Paladins with a promise to keep an eye on Blaytz. The two left, probably to make sure the others knew of the deception.

“You seriously call them by numbers, Coran?” 

“Technically, I’m calling them by their heights!” Coran said cheerfully, before sighing. “It’s not the best joke, admittedly.” 

“I know something bad happened, Coran. And I understand why you won’t tell me anything... but please consider that I am the ruler of my planet and I didn’t get that way from having a pretty face.” Blaytz reminded him. “Also, you’re a horrible liar. I knew something was off the instant I saw Allura.”

“... You won’t be able to change anything, we don’t know if it’s an alternate past or not.”

“Do you remember meeting my successor?”

“No, but I might get those memories the more things change- all I’ve got are theories, no one’s reliably confirmed successful time travel!” Coran showed him all the research that he had pulled up. “Items have successfully traveled back in time, but no confirmed people. Of course there are pictures of supposed travelers, but comparisons with facial recognition algorithms are inconclusive.”

“Well, I can tell you that I wasn’t in a battle according to Blue Lion’s computers so my injuries were most likely the result of going through the rift.” Blaytz offered.

“Honestly, the simple solution may be just having you and Lance go through the rift at the same time.”

“The trick there would be for us to do that at the exact same time, correct?”

“Yes. I’m going to have to talk with Pidge and Hunk, they may be able to come up with something.” Coran sighed.

Blaytz rested a hand on Coran’s shoulder. “Don’t rush yourself, you might miss something.” He advised.

“Thanks, Blaytz.”

“Anytime. Now, what can you tell me about Lance? I’m disappointed that I’m not meeting him.” Blaytz asked.

“I believe you would get along ... he has a similar temperament to yours, very easygoing. I think he found your blue lion robe and slippers where you left them in the laundry and claimed them.”

“Glad someone’s using them.” Blaytz didn’t have a blue Lion robe or slippers. He’d been thinking of commissioning them, though, so apparently he went through with that impulse at some point.

“Quite. He’s quite a marksman as well, and almost every planet he asks if there’s water to go swimming.” Coran chuckled. “Which reminds me, I need to tell him how to access the pool.”

“In our defense, we didn’t realize the flaw until after it was constructed.” Blaytz shrugged.

* * *

“ _Wait, you’re telling me that all I had to do was hit a switch by the door?”_

_“Yes, to access the pool you have to flip off the artificial gravity in that room.”_

_“... I am going to have words with Coran when I get back. I tried using a ladder!”_

_“Oh dear. That didn’t go well did it?”_

_“No, it did not.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one fun thing about the original Paladins for me is that they’re all rulers or of high rank on their planets.
> 
> I’m going to keep this a short story so I don’t get taken over by too many plot bunnies... hopefully 🙏


	3. Deep Blue

Altea is gorgeous. Not quite like earth, but close enough, and a lot of architecture is similar enough to the Castle of Lions to be comfortable.

“Have you not seen Altea before?” Alfor asked.

“Just holograms, we can’t... the empire’s pretty much cut us off.” Lance lied. He felt guilty for lying, but he couldn’t exactly say it was destroyed.

“I see. Well, we have time for you to look around if you’d like to.” Alfor offered. “It’s going to take a bit to get all the scientists together- Zarkon has to get Honerva and that will take some negotiation.”

“She’s passionate about her work, that’s no crime.” Zarkon sounded like this was an old argument.

(Whoever this Honerva was, Zarkon was apparently really fond of her. The guy looked happy whenever she was mentioned.)

“As you say.” Alfor let it go with a shake of his head and a fond smile. “It may take a quindent or two to get everyone we need together. More than enough time for you to do some exploring.” Alfor lead the way to an actual castle. They didn’t quite make it in before a blur lunged at Alfor.

“Father!”

Lance blinked. The Allura he knew looked like his age.

This Allura looked a couple years younger, like maybe Pidge’s age.

So Zarkon going evil wouldn’t happen for a while yet, which meant he didn’t have to worry about that.

(Hopefully- he didn’t actually ask when it happened, the war could have been going for a few years before Alfor froze Allura... Lance was going to be asking about the exact timeline when he got back, just in case this time travel thing wasn’t a once in a lifetime thing.)

“Princess, you shouldn’t run!” A brown haired altean with fair skin and red marks by her eyes scolded Allura. “Oh, your Majesties!” The woman was broad shouldered and stout, almost Hunk shaped.

“It’s alright Hys.” Alfor waved off the concern. “Lance, I want you to meet my daughter Allura, Allura, this is Lance, Blue Paladin of the future. He and Blaytz switched places in the time stream, we’re working on switching them back.”

“Hello, Princess.” Lance offered awkwardly as he stood in a more ‘attention’ stance.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Allura curtsied.

“And this is Hys, my daughter’s tutor and protector.”

“Paladin.”

Lance just nodded at her, unsure of her rank, and reasonably sure that the woman in front of him had died, which is why he’d never heard of her.

Introductions temporarily over, Alfor lead the way inside.

“Not used to royalty?” Trigel asked Lance in amusement.

“I usually just stand in the back looking pretty while our Black Paladin and Coran do the official stuff.” Lance admitted. He also spent more time talking to the servers and other guests- easier to get a read on royalty by what their subjects thought of them, as well as figure out if anyone was hypnotized into feeding a giant sea monster. “And the few royal families that remain on my home planet are pretty much sticking to their ancestral homes and not technically ruling.” Lance probably botched that explanation, but Trigel just nodded.

“So who does the ruling on your planet?” She asked.

“Elected officials, usually. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s ours.”

“Sounds like Delrus 9. Do your officials rely on public opinion too?”

“Pretty much.” Lance ended up explaining a bit more about the different countries type of elections (“You don’t have a single planetary ruler?”) to Trigel, and surprisingly Allura.

Hys was nearby and glaring at him every time he spoke to Allura to answer a question, of which Allura had a lot of.

She also glared when he didn’t bow upon meeting Queen Melenor, Allura’s mother.

“I apologize for my daughter’s questions, I’m sure you’re tired from traveling.” Queen Melenor was similar to Allura, but more gentle. 

“It’s fine, I’m used to kids, I have nieces and nephews, a couple around her maturity level.” Ages were not comparable, at all, different species had different lifespans, and Coran’s remarks had him at least 600 years old and the maturity of a forty something human.

“I have an idea then, Allura, why don’t you and Coran show Lance around the castle and city? He hasn’t had much chance to see Altea in his time.” Alfor suggested.

Hys looked like she was going to pass out at the thought. (Hys was a wonderful tutor and protector, she just leaned to being a little too strict.)

“Yes, Father!” Allura led Lance away listing all the places she wanted to show him, Coran chiming in with suggestions.

Hys followed them with a scowl.

“He does the Blaytz thing.” Grygan noted. “Tells you all this information, but it’s mostly useless. There’s no names and the locations are so vague that you couldn’t find your way even if you did end up there.”

“But you noticed it. With Blaytz you don’t notice it until after it’s too late to properly respond.” Trigel noted. “Which reminds me, I still don’t know where that tome I was reading went to.”

“It’s in Blaytz’s room. The boy’s young, he’s probably figuring out the right amount of charm to use.” Zarkon pointed out.

“Might be a good thing Lance can’t meet Blaytz.” Alfor noted, stressing Lance’s name again.

“I’m going to take my leave to collect Honerva. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Zarkon looked at Alfor. “See what else you can find out about the boy while you’re getting the crew together.”

“Be careful, her last transmission to the Alchemist Union sounded like she hit a setback on her research.” Melenor warned.

“Your concern is touching, but unnecessary... how bad of a setback?”

“An entire week’s worth of experiments were ruined.”

“I see. Thanks for the warning.” Zarkon left.

“Right, we’re going to need Alchemists and Scientists, I’ll see who is able to be spared. Trigel, you said you had someone in mind?” Alfor asked.

“A few actually- their work is mostly theoretical time travel, but they work with someone who can see multiple possibilities at once.” Trigel nodded.

“Good. Grygan?”

“I’ll make sure we get supplies. Also, I need to alert the council I’ll be gone a little longer.” Grygan grinned. “I’ll see who I can get from my people while I’m at it.”

As they separated to do their errands, Alfor hugged Melenor a little closer. 

* * *

Coran had concerns. Most things Allura asked Lance such as ‘Have you heard about this?’ was met with a ‘Coran mentioned it, but I haven’t seen it.’, but there were a couple times where Lance replied with ‘I’ve heard it mentioned.’, without saying Coran’s name.

A neat little omission, implying that there was another Altean telling Lance about their home, but Lance was avoiding mentioning them.

Coran decided not to press. Very likely, had it not been for the state of grogginess coming out of the pod, Lance would not have revealed he knew Coran in order to preserve the timeline as best he could.

The fact he had trusted Coran had worked against him, but that was not his fault.

(It was still disturbing that his reaction when he realized that he wasn’t with his team was to try and push Coran behind him. Noble, yes, but Lance had just been barely standing, and he couldn’t be much older than Allura, given how easily he let himself be distracted by everything Allura pointed out.)

Something clatters to the ground and Lance’s head snaps to the side looking for the source, one hand going to his back for a weapon Coran had convinced him to leave on the Castle of Lions.

“It’s a serving tray, one of stabilizers wasn’t fully charged.” Coran finds it first. “It happens.”

Allura gets Lance’s attention again to show him a fountain and the two rush off.

“... Are his kind evolved from a prey species?” Hys asked, rather rudely in Coran’s opinion.

“Just because he has different rules for things doesn’t mean you get to be rude, Hys. It’s rather unbecoming.” Coran didn’t bother looking at Hys for her reaction, instead focusing on how Lance was acting.

The fact he reached for a weapon upon hearing an unknown noise was pretty telling. 

He didn’t know what was wrong with his future self, but hopefully he had access to some therapy books.

* * *

_“I forgot I had this book in my room ... I hid it from Trigel because she had missed a couple meals.”_

_“She kept forgetting to get it back- she had moved on to a new technology, I believe.”_

_“... Think Pidge would be interested? I kinda owe her an apology.”_

_“Dare I ask?”_

_“In my defense, 15 is a very young age by most species standards.”_

_“Ah. That was a shock to me as well. Maturity wise, however, they are quite capable.”_

_“Yes. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hys is the Go Lion name of the Nanny character from Voltron. She dies in Go Lion, survives in Voltron, and in both versions has a great dislike of the main characters coupled with a desire to protect Allura.
> 
> I brought her to this story mostly because I could.


End file.
